The Sword and the Shield
by Saric the Slayer
Summary: One day, Steven meets someone he never expected, another half-Gem like him. The two of them quickly bond and became good friends, and he even joins the Crystal Gems. What follows afterwards is a series of events that leads the Crystal Gems through many trials and tribulations as they must deal with the forces of Homeworld and other new enemies who are determined to destroy them.
1. Freak Friends

_Greetings everyone. This is my first attempt at a Steven Universe fan fiction. The theme of the story for this fan fiction will be kind of on the more serious side, as if it is part of the show, and will be somewhat epic in scale. I got the idea to do this fan fiction from a few very interesting dreams I had involving Steven Universe, and I've actually had a quite a few of them. What happens to me often is that whenever there is a series that I really like, it will often cause me to have dreams about them, the events of which would make for a very interesting fan fiction or role play. Steven Universe, being a series I like is no exception, and the dream had such an interesting story that I just had to turn it into a fan fiction to expand it and build upon it. The plot points seemed so realistic, like something that could actually happen in the show._

 _Each part of the story will play out almost like episodes of the show, and the chapters will be named with a theme as if it were an actual episode. Some of these parts of the story would definitely make for some good episodes. Many people I've told my ideas to think they were really good and told me that I should make it into a story, so here I am now finally doing that. I hope you all enjoy it._

* * *

It started out as a typical, normal day at the beach house. Steven and Amethyst were upstairs in Steven's room, watching T.V. On the T.V, there appeared to be some sort of show about a teenage superhero fighting crime.

"Here comes Berserker Boy, the Viking Warrior, to save the day." said the narrator on the television. "With his sword and magical powers, he will defend the Earth from the forces of evil."

They watched as Berserker Boy pulled out what appeared to be a magical sword, and he began to fight off all of the monsters surrounding him with his sword skills, as well as some of his own magical powers.

"Wow, Berserker Boy is the greatest." said Steven. "I can totally relate to him. The situations he always seems to find himself in are a lot like those we get into when we're doing Gem stuff."

"Eh, I guess." said Amethyst. "Those are some pretty neat special effects though. How'd they do that?"

Pearl then approached Steven and Amethyst and joined them.

"It's quite strange." said Pearl. "His powers seem to vaguely resemble our own Gem powers."

"Really?" said Steven.

"There's no way it could be though." said Pearl. "This silly Earth show is nothing but a creation of the human imagination."

"I guess so." said Steven. "There's no way any of the stuff in this show can be real, can it?"

"No Steven." said Pearl. "The only people with powers like that here on Earth would be us."

After about a few minutes, the show ended and Steven got up.

"Well, see ya guys later." said Steven. "I'm bored, so I'm gonna go for a walk."

"Alright then." said Pearl. "Don't come home late, and stay out of trouble."

"Don't worry, I will." said Steven.

Steven then left and went on his way to Beach City.

* * *

As Steven was taking his walk through Beach City, he eventually passed by the Big Doughnut.

"Hmm, maybe I could drop by and talk to Sadie and Lars." Steven thought to himself as he kept walking. "They probably aren't very busy at around this time."

As Steven was thinking to himself, he had stopped paying attention to his surroundings. Right as he turned a corner, before he could react, he ran straight into someone.

"Oh no." said Steven, realizing what had happened. "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"It's okay." said the stranger. "Neither was I."

Steven took a good look at the person he had just ran into, and realized that it was someone he had never seen before in Beach City. It was a teenage boy, who looked to be a about Lars' age, and was probably only about a few years older than Steven. He had short black hair, and was dressed in clothes with a very normal and unassuming appearance with black, white, and gray colors all over.

"Say, I've never seen you around here before." said Steven, now curious about this new person he'd just come across. "Are you new here in town?"

"Kind of." said the boy. "I do live close by to Beach City, but I don't really come here that often. I mostly stay near home, and when I do need to go out, I mostly go to the other nearby towns."

"Well, I've lived here my entire life." said Steven. "I hardly ever leave Beach City."

"I guess we both have something in common." said the boy. "We don't like to go very far from home."

"Oh, I'm Steven by the way." said Steven. "May I ask what your name is kind stranger?"

"I'm Jet." said the boy.

"Hmm, you seem kind of familiar." said Steven, who was now overcome with an overwhelming sense of familiarity with this boy. "Have I met you somewhere before?"

"Not that I know of." said Jet. "Though in some places, I'm pretty well known."

Steven's pupils then turned into star shapes as he finally realized who the boy really was.

"Wait a minute, you're Berserker Boy!" Steven exclaimed.

"Shh, shh, not so loud." said Jet, looking around worriedly to make sure nobody heard. "Yes, that's me. I'd rather you not say that out loud though. I'm tired of constantly being asked for autographs by kids your age."

"This is so cool." said Steven. "I'm actually meeting Berserker Boy."

"So you've seen my show?" asked Jet.

"Of course I have." said Steven. "I'm like your biggest fan. I've been following all of your adventures since the very first episode, and I've seen every one of them since then."

"Don't get too excited about it." said Jet. "In real life, I'm actually not all that big and important. My real life is pretty boring and uneventful."

"That's okay." said Steven. "Sometimes I wish my life was like that, but then I wouldn't be the person I am now."

"Maybe you could tell me about it." said Jet. "I could use a little fun and excitement in my life to spice things up."

Steven and Jet then sat down at a table outside the Big Doughnut and struck up a conversation. The two of them talked for a while, telling each other about their lives and all of the things they've done, as well as all of the things they were interested in. The two were starting to realize how similar they were to each other and were becoming fast friends.

"Wow, we have a lot in common with each other." said Steven.

"I know right?" said Jet. "All that Gem stuff you've told me about sounds pretty interesting too. I wish my life was as exciting as yours."

"Maybe it will be." said Steven. "If you stick around me long enough, something interesting is bound to happen."

"We'll see then." said Jet. "I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing each other again soon. For now though, I have to go home."

"Same here." said Steven. "I guess we'll hang out again sometime soon?"

"Oh course." said Jet. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Sure" said Steven.

As Steven was beginning to walk away, a pane of glass hanging from a crane above suddenly snapped from the rope holding it in place, and the glass fell straight to the ground. Steven noticed at the last minute that it was about to land on him, but before her could do anything, Steven found himself being grabbed by Jet, who with acrobat-like speed and reflexes was able to get Steven safely out of the way. When it was over, Steven found himself amazed by what had just happened.

"Wow, that was amazing Jet!" said Steven. "You really are a superhero."

"I guess I am." said Jet, smiling and humoring Steven. "Are you alright Steven?"

"I'm fine." said Steven. "To tell you the truth, you didn't really need to do that. I could have easily protected myself with my bubble shield."

"I just did it mostly without thinking." said Jet "It's sort of a habit."

"Where did you learn skills like that?" asked Steven. "I can't even do things like that."

"I've had lots of practice." said Jet.

"Thanks anyway." said Steven.

"Well, see ya then." said Jet, who started to walk away. "Stay safe Steven."

"You too." said Steven. "Bye Jet."

"You know Steven, we're a lot alike." said Jet, as he walked away. "More than you know..."

Steven was left confused by Jet's final words to him as he disappeared out of sight.

* * *

As the weeks passed by, Steven and his new friend Jet began to hang out more and more. They gradually started to become closer and form a strong and almost brotherly bond as the two began to relate to each other and talk about their lives. Their friendly meetings usually ended up taking them on several adventures and escapades throughout Beach City. Jet had even watched from afar with great interest as Steven participated in some of his Gem related activities with the Crystal Gems.

One day, Steven and Jet found themselves walking along the shore of the beach, when, suddenly the ground began to shake, as if it were an earthquake.

"What's happening?" asked Jet. "Is it an earthquake?"

Within the next moment, something tunneled out from underneath the ground and came up to the surface. It seemed to be a corrupted Gem monster with an appearance similar to that of a mole.

"It's a corrupted Gem." said Steven. "Just our luck." The corrupted Gem then began to charge towards Steven and Jet.

"Can you protect yourself?" asked Jet. "You're a half-Gem, so you can still summon a weapon, right?"

"I have my shield." said Steven, summoning his shield and blocking the Gem monster's attack.

"Since it looks like we have no choice but to fight this thing, I guess I'll have to help you then." said Jet, smiling. "This looks like a job for Berserker Boy."

The two of them then charged at the corrupted Gem and began to fight it. They both knew that in order to win, they'd have to damage it enough in order to poof it, or be able to hold out long enough until help from the Crystal Gems could arrive. Steve blocked each of its attacks with his shield, and Jet was able to nimbly dodge each of its attacks and hit it with a few punches and kicks, which needless to say proved ineffective. The fight went on, but then the Gem monster started to push them back. Seeing an opening, the gem monster knocked away Steven's shield, leaving him wide open and defenseless. As it charged towards Steven, Jet jumped out in front of him to block the monster's path.

"Well Steven, it looks like I'll have to use this." said Jet.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Jet then pulled out a sword with a blackish color to it. He attacked the corrupted Gem with the sword and slashed it a few times.

"Jet, your magic sword, it's actually real!?" exclaimed Steven, with shock and surprise.

The two exchanged blows with each other, and in the process the corrupted Gem managed to claw Jet, tearing the front of his shirt. Now seeing an opening, Jet charged at the monster and stabbed it straight through the chest, causing it to poof and it's gem to fall to the ground.

"Another job well done for Berserker Boy." said Jet, giving Steven a thumbs up.

Afterwards, Jet immediately picked up the monster's gem and wrapped his hands around it. As he did so, a black bubble formed around the Gem, encapsulating it. Jet then turned around towards Steven while still holding the bubble, and in an area on his stomach, above his belly button, there could be seen a black, faceted gemstone embedded there.

"What!" exclaimed Steven, almost unable to believe what he was seeing. "Jet, you're a Gem!?"

Steven just stood there, completely dumbfounded while staring at Jet's gem.

"Shocking isn't it?" said Jet, sarcastically. "Yes, it's exactly what it looks like. This is my little secret. I'm a half-Gem, just like you Steven."

"No wonder." said Steven, thinking back on all the things Jet had told him before. "Everything makes so much sense now. That's what you meant by all those things you said to me, like how were more similar than I think. All those things you did on your show, they were real weren't they, because they were Gem powers."

"The reason we bonded so well must be because we're both half-Gems." said Jet. "We understand each other on such a deep, unspoken level because we're the same Steven."

"This is so amazing." said Steven. "I never knew that there could be other half-Gems out there."

"There aren't." said Jet. "As far as I know, we're the only ones."

"Wait, if you're a half-Gem, and you already knew that I was a half-Gem after I told you, then why didn't you tell me before?" asked Steven.

"I was waiting for the right time to tell you." said Jet. "I didn't tell you earlier because I was afraid that it might freak you out if you found out so suddenly. I didn't want to scare you off and ruin our friendship, like what usually happens with so many other friends that I've tried to make in the past. The truth is, you're the first friend I've ever had that's stuck around with me for this long. Everyone usually is either scared of me or thinks that I'm weird or creepy, but not you Steven."

"Are you kidding?" said Steven. "This is so cool. I've never met any other humans out there who are as awesome as you."

"Wait, you don't think I'm a freak?" asked Jet, surprised.

"Why would I?" said Steven. "To consider you a freak, that would mean I'd have to consider myself a freak. Not only that, I'd also have to consider the three people who love me the most in the world to be freaks too."

"All this time, I never could have imagined there was someone out there just like me." said Jet, surprised by Steven's reaction.. "Someone who could accept me as a friend."

"Don't sweat it." said Steven. "I'm everyone's friend. If you ever need someone to be there for you, you can count on me."

"Thanks Steven." said Jet.

"So..." said Steven, bringing up a new topic. "Which of your parents did you get your Gem powers from? You're a half-Gem, right? So which parent was it? Your mom, or your dad?"

"It was my mom." said Jet. "From what my dad has always told me about her, I thought she was the only one of her kind."

"It must be hard not having her around." said Steven, with a sad look. "Her being gone and all."

"Gone?" asked Jet. "She isn't gone. She still lives with me and my dad, though she doesn't really do or say much."

"What do you mean?" asked Steven, now perplexed. "I thought Gems who have a child lose their physical forms. Are you saying she's still alive?"

"Well, not exactly..." said Jet. "Hey, I know. Why don't I take you to meet her. She'd probably love to meet another one of her kind."

"Okay then Jet." said Steven, now very curious. "Take me to see her."

* * *

 **Fun fact: Jet is sort of a fitting name for him since a Jet is actually a type of gemstone. It's an organic one like a pearl, or amber, or copal, or coral.**


	2. Jet Universe

Steven continued to follow Jet as he lead him out of Beach City and further down the road that left the town. They walked down the road for about five miles, until they eventually reached a green, hilly area to the side of the road. On top of a flat, elevated spot in this area, there was a rather cozy looking house.

"Here it is Steven." said Jet. "This is where I live."

"I never knew you lived this close to Beach City."said Steven. "I'm surprised we've never crossed paths with each other before we became friends."

Jet made his way towards the house with Steven, and they went inside. They navigated their way through the house until Jet stopped at a set of stairs that just seemed to lead straight down into a dark hole.

"Down those stairs is the basement." said Jet. "She's down there."

They climbed down the stairs until they reached the very bottom. Steven was amazed at what he saw down there. They were in what appeared to be some sort of underground cavern or cave. Embedded all along the walls were a strange type of crystal the seemed to give of a warm light that illuminated the whole area. Scattered all throughout the cavern were what appeared to be various Gem artifacts and pieces of Gem technology, many of which Steven had seen before and recognized. In the middle of the room was what looked like a warp pad, but Steven had never been to this one before, so it was likely that this one probably didn't work anymore, unlike the others he's used in the past.

"There's a lot of Gem stuff here." said Steven. "How'd you get all of this?"

"My dad collects this stuff." said Jet. "He's very interested in all sorts of Gem technology, and he studies it in his spare time. He's a scientist that works at a research institute somewhere, but nobody knows about this hobby of his. He's probably the one human on Earth that knows more about Gems than anyone else because of how much he's studied them. This cavern was already here way before my house was built though. It apparently had some sort of connection to Gems in the past."

"This is cool." said Steven. "So you just have all this Gem stashed down here?"

Jet then walked over to one of the Gem artifacts nearby. It appeared to be a bell shaped cylinder with a hole going straight through the top of it.

"Hey Steven, you know what this is?" asked Jet.

"That's a Wailing Stone." said Steven.

"Yeah, it is." said Jet. "They make a really annoying sound when they're activated. A word of advice, don't try to bury them when they're turned on. It'll cause a miniature earthquake."

"It's a good thing I didn't do that when the one at the temple was going off." said Steven.

"Are you ready to meet her?" asked Jet.

"Yes." said Steven.

Jet then led him to another part of the room, which had a large crystal orb or sphere resting against the wall.

"Well, here she is." said Jet.

Steven looked up at the sphere an inside he saw what appeared to be the crystallized form of a woman, as if she were frozen in time. Steven could tell right away that she was a Gem. She had a graceful beauty to her, almost like Steven's mother Rose, and all down her back she had long, flowing black hair, which seemed to spike a little bit at the ends. She glowed with a radiant, black light that illuminated her figure. Steven also noticed that at the spot where her gem would have been, it was missing, and it was the same place on her body where Jet's gem now resided on his.

"That's your mom?" said Steven, mesmerized. "She's so beautiful."

"Hello mom." said Jet, hugging the crystallized monolith that contained his mother. "I'm home now." From the outside, the action seemed pretty pointless, almost as if Jet were just hugging a lifeless, immovable statue. Even if he was incapable of interacting with her in any way, the very fact he could still touch her made all the difference to him.

"How'd she end up like this?" asked Steven, curious. "When my mom gave birth to me, she had to give up her physical form to bring me into the world."

"My dad told me that right after I was born, my mom did something unexpected." said Jet. "Before her physical form could fade away, she used the last of her Gem powers to try to bubble herself in an effort to preserve what was left of her body. After that, the Gem bubble she made around herself eventually crystallized into this monolith you see here now, which contains the crystallized remains of her physical body. She had done this in the hopes that one day we could find a way to bring her back and revive her physical form; something which my dad as a scientist has been working on in his spare time, as well as studying all of this Gem technology. However we can't remove her from the monolith, otherwise her form would fade away completely and be lost forever

"So this is what you meant by your mom was still here." said Steven. "Well, I hope you succeed in bringing her back, however unlikely it might be."

"At this point, we've begun to accept the reality that something like that is probably impossible." said Jet. "We can't both exist at the same time, so this is the only form my mom can take now."

"That must suck, being able to see her everyday, but not being able to talk to her." said Steven.

"It's not as bad as it seems." said Jet. "Actually, you might not believe me, but I think that she's sometimes able to talk to me through my dreams. I can hear her voice at night, and she tells me things, like how much she loves me."

After about a few minutes, Steven and Jet went back upstairs into the house, where they saw someone enter. It was Jet's father, who had just come home from work. Steven noticed that he seemed to somewhat look like Jet as well, and this is where the rest of his features came from.

"I'm home Jet." said Jet's father. "Today was a long day. I had to stay late at the lab to finish some reports."

'Hey dad." said Jet. "Look who I brought home with me. It's Steven."

"So you're Jet's new friend?" said Jet's father, looking at Steven. "He's told me so much about you. Even how you're a half-Gem and all, just like him."

"So you already know about that?" said Steven. "Well that'll make things easier. Now I won't have to explain as much, like I had to with Connie's mom and dad."

"I'm also very familiar with Gem related things, so that's a plus too." said Jet's father.

"It's not everyday that I get to meet another human who understands Gem stuff." said Steven.

"I'm Jean by the way." said Jet's father. "Jean Nova."

"Pleased to meet, Mr. Nova." said Steven. "I'm Steven Universe."

"Wait, Universe?" said Jean, seeming to recognize that name. "Steven are you Greg's son?"

"Yes, I am actually." said Steven.

"Ah, Greg, I haven't heard from that crazy clown in years." said Jean, laughing. "So what's he up to now?"

"You knew my dad?" asked Steven.

'Knew him?" said Jean. "The two of us were old college buddies. We even tried to form a band once back in our college days. It was supposed to have some kind of space theme I think? Well, needless to say, it didn't really work out, and the two of us went our separate ways after that, though we still talked from time to time. The last I heard of him, he opened some car wash in Beach City. What ever happened to him."

"My mom happened." said Steven. "My dad fell in love with her and she eventually had me."

"You mean Rose?" asked Jean. "So things really did work out for the two of them then."

"You knew my mom too!?" Steven exclaimed.

"Of course I did." said Jean. "I'm familiar with all Gem related things here on Earth. Being friends with Greg, it was inevitable that I'd end up meeting her too."

"You've got to tell me about it." said Steven, his pupils becoming star shapes. "There's so much I want to know."

"Okay then." said Jean. "We might be here for a while though."

Steven, Jet, and Jean sat down and talked for what seemed like hours. Jean reminisced about the past, remembering Greg and Rose, and Steven filled in the gaps for him. Eventually, they finished and got up from the couch.

"That was a nice little trip down memory lane." said Steven. "I learned a lot of things about my mom and dad that even I didn't know."

"It sure was." said Jean.

"It's getting kind of late though." said Steven, looking at the clock on the wall. "I should probably head back home now."

"Take care then." said Jean.

"Bye Steven." said Jet.

"Hey Jet, I have an idea for what we should do tomorrow." said Steven.

"What?" asked Jet.

"Why don't I introduce you to the Crystal Gems?" said Steven. "I haven't told them yet that you're a half-Gem. I bet they'd love to meet you."

"Sounds good to me." said Jet. "I can't wait."

"Bye Jet." said Steven.

Steven then left the house and went on his way back home to the temple, where the Crystal Gems were waiting for him.

* * *

It was now the next day, and Steven had brought Jet with him to the temple to introduce him to the Crystal Gems. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were all gathered around Jet as Steven was introducing him to them.

"This is new... and... unusual." said Pearl, somewhat perplexed and examining Jet's gem. "Steven, when you told us you had a unique friend, I didn't think this was what you meant."

"I actually just found out myself yesterday." said Steven.

"I never even considered the possibility that there could be other half-Gems here on Earth." said Pearl. "I thought Steven was the only one there ever was, at least the only on this planet anyway."

"It confuses me too sometimes." said Jet.

"This is so cool." said Amethyst. "Nice to meet you Jet."

"Nice to met you too." said Jet.

"Who would have thought there was another Gem out there that had a child with a human." said Amethyst.

"It really shouldn't be that surprising." said Garnet. "After the Rebellion, aside from all the corrupted Gems we've encountered, there are still a lot of Gems who are unaccounted for, and whose fate we still don't know."

Excited at the prospect of meeting a new Gem, each of the Crystal Gems introduced themselves to Jet and they spent the next few minutes talking with him and explaining certain Gem-related things to him. At the end of the conversation, Amethyst finally decided to ask the big question that the Crystal Gems were all thinking.

"So Jet..." asked Amethyst. "Whose kid are you?"

"My dad had told me that my mother was a Gem by the name of Onyx." said Jet.

The Crystal Gems were immediately shocked upon hearing this, and Pearl even gasped.

"Onyx?" said Pearl, noticeably taken aback. "Surely you don't _"that"_ Onyx, right? It's probably some Onyx-class Gem, right... Onyx-class Gems are pretty common, aren't they?"

"Her full name was Onyx Quartz." said Jet.

The Crystal Gems were then hit by another wave of shock and awe. The only one who didn't seem to react to this was Steven, who obviously had no idea what any of this meant.

"Wait a minute, back up for a second." said Steven. "What are you guys talking about? I feel like there's something everyone here knows that I don't know. Who is this Gem named Onyx?"

"Ah, that's right, we've never told you about Onyx." said Pearl. "How do I put this Steven? Onyx was, well... she was the sister of your mother Rose Quartz."

"What!? My mom had a sister!" exclaimed Steven. "How come I never knew about this? Also, since when do Gems have siblings? I didn't even know they could."

"Well, to call her Rose's sister would be somewhat inaccurate." said Pearl. "By _"sister"_ , what I mean is that Onyx and Rose were grown together in the same batch of Gems in whatever Kindergarten they came from. She was her batch sister. To Gems, the whole concept of family is either completely nonexistent, or at least very different from what it is for you humans. For Gems, the closest things they could really call _"family"_ would be the Gems who they grew in the same batch with in their Kindergarten. Among Gems in the same batch, there is a special bond that forms between them which lasts even after they leave their Kindergarten, one very similar to what you humans might call _"siblings"_ The term we Gems have for this bond or relationship is called batch siblings."

"Does that mean that you guys had siblings too?" asked Steven.

"Of course it does." said Amethyst. "When I was forming in the Kindergarten here on Earth, I had a bunch of brothers and sisters who grew in the same batch with me. I'm not sure what happened to all of them though... They were all gone when I emerged. I think they all died."

Amethyst said that last part very casually, almost as if it were nothing but ancient history to her.

"I had many batch siblings too." said Pearl. "But unlike how it was with Amethyst, they were all Pearl-class Gems like me; and we all pretty much looked the same."

"So... what was my mom's sister like?" asked Steven, now very curious.

"Oh Onyx, she was amazing." said Pearl, now starting to act in a similar way to how she usually acted whenever she reminisces about Rose. "She emerged from their batch before Rose did, so that would technically make her Rose's older sister, but even still she loyally followed Rose and the two of them were very close. Many Gems often looked up to Onyx for strength and inspiration, as they did with Rose. She was a powerful Gem and a great warrior, just like your mother was, and together with Rose, the two of them formed an unstoppable team. Each of their strengths made up for the weaknesses of the other. It was like one was the sword and the other was the shield, and when they came together they were a force to be reckoned with. During the Rebellion, the Homeworld Gems greatly feared them, especially the Diamonds. Among the forces of the rebel Gems, Onyx was second only to Rose in terms of strength, and her power was considered comparable to that of a Diamond's, which is how she got the unofficial title of Black Diamond."

"A Diamond?" said Steven. "I've been hearing you guys use that term a lot recently when talking about the Homeworld Gems. Is there something special about them?"

"The Diamonds are the ultimate authority of the Gems." said Pearl. "They rule the entire Gem Empire from the capital on Homeworld. Each of the Diamonds rule their own sections of the known galaxy, which has all been divided up into their own personal territory. They each also have their own personal fighting forces under their direct command, who are all ready at a moment's notice to carry out their orders. The Diamonds are said to be the oldest and most powerful of all Gems, and your mother Rose used to be one of them. She was Pink Diamond."

"She was a Diamond?" said Steven, somewhat surprised. "That explains a lot. So who exactly are the Diamonds?"

"Aside from Rose, and Onyx, who was unofficially considered one, there are three others." said Pearl. "First there's Yellow Diamond, who you've probably already heard of. We will probably end up encountering her very soon now because of everything that's happened so far. She is the Gem who's in charge of developing all of the technology for the Gem Empire, and continuously finding ways to advance it. In the past, she often conducted many experiments on planets just like Earth. If you didn't know already, Yellow Diamond is the Gem who Jasper and Peridot work for."

"Okay, so who are the others?" asked Steven.

"Next there's Blue Diamond." said Pearl. "Most of what I know about Blue Diamond is either information that I've read about him, or stories that I've heard from other Gems who've encountered him. Blue Diamond is known throughout the Gem Empire as a powerful warlord, and he's the Gem that's in command of the bulk of the Gem Empire's military forces. Some of the strongest and most powerful Gems are under his command, and he's also said to be very strong himself. He also possesses a very potent ability to control any and all types of water with incredible ease."

"That's kind of like what Lapis does." said Steven. "So Lapis isn't the only one who can control water?"

"Yes Steven, she's not the only one." said Pearl. "There exist Gems who are able to control certain elements to their whim and use those element in battle, sometimes even taking the place of their weapon. For instance, Ruby has control over the element of fire, and Sapphire has control over the element of ice."

"What about the last Diamond?" asked Steven.

"Finally, there's White Diamond" said Pearl. "She is the leader of the council of Diamonds, and is also the supreme ruler of the entire Gem Empire."

"Wow, she must be powerful." said Steven.

"To tell you the truth, I don't really know much about her." said Pearl. "None of us really do. She's an enigma; a complete mystery, and so are all the Gems who serve her. We're not even really sure what she looks like. Descriptions of her appearance are always vague, and they never seem to match up with each other. Sometimes she has been described as being a Gem of pure white, and other times she has been described as being a Gem of pitch black, and with each of these appearances, her personality is also said to be vastly different as well. However, I have a feeling that she is a very dangerous Gem that we should definitely steer clear of."

"Hopefully she stays as far away as possible from here and we never encounter her." said Garnet. "The less we hear of her presence, the better."

"Wait, so my mom used to be one of these Diamonds, right?" asked Steven. "So if that's the case, then does that mean that she used to be a bad Gem?"

Steven now seemed very worried upon asking this question, afraid of what the answer might be.

"It wasn't like that Steven." said Pearl. "Your mother wasn't really _"bad"_ per say. She was just ignorant to what the Gem Empire was really doing, and because of that she had for a long time been blindly following along with whatever they were doing. Eventually, Rose and Onyx realized the truth and opened their eyes to what was really going on, and after coming to Earth they decided to change their ways. They then rebelled against Homeworld in order to save all of the inhabitants of this planet, and did so in the hopes of preventing the Gem Empire from ever exploiting and oppressing other races and worlds ever again. We rebelled, even though we knew that we could never go home again. We knew full well that we would most likely even have to fight against some of our own batch siblings who were on the side of Homeworld."

"That must have been terrible, having to fight your own siblings." said Jet. "It's like being caught between two very difficult choices, with neither one ending well for anyone involved."

"So, whatever happened to my mom's sister Onyx?" asked Steven, now changing back to the original topic.

"We don't really know." said Pearl. "She used to live with us here at the temple, and she even had a room in the underground portions, but that part of the temple has long since caved in. Often times she would just leave the temple and go off on her own, and do whatever she pleased. She was a very adventurous sort of Gem, and often liked to explore the world around her rather than just stay at the temple. Although she was the more mature and serious one compared to Rose, she was also the more eccentric one among the two, and maybe she was even a little odd."

"What do you mean?" asked Steven.

"She had a very unusual and uncharacteristic quality for a Gem." said Pearl. "If a Gem had ever displayed such a quality as hers back on Homeworld, they would have been considered defective."

"What was her special quality?" asked Jet.

"It was her love of and curiosity for all things here on Earth, especially humans." said Pearl. "She had an unnatural fondness and kindness for humans; a strange habit which eventually rubbed off on your Rose mother too."

"Is that how my mom turned out the way that she did?" asked Steven.

"Yes, that's part of the reason." said Pearl. "Before Rose had met Greg, she had simply considered humans to be weak, defenseless creatures in need of protecting, and even pitied them a little; never seeing them as being on the same level as her. Onyx on the other hand had always believed in them and actually saw them as equals. It was Onyx that started Rose on her path to changing her views on humans. However, this was one of Onyx's greatest weaknesses too. She was very naive when it came to humans, and cared about them almost to a fault. We always warned her that this could one day come back to bite her. When we had stopped hearing from her for a long time, we assumed that the worst had happened. We had no idea where she was or what had happened to her."

"That must be when she met my dad and married him." said Jet. "Then she brought me into the world."

"It's comforting to know that she was at least safe and happy that whole time, rather than in terrible danger in some unknown place." said Pearl.

The conversation between Steven, Jet, and the Crystal Gems continued on for a while as the Crystal Gems and Jet got to know each other better.

"So Pearl, what was it that you mentioned earlier about Jet's mom Onyx being an Onyx-class Gem?" asked Steven, rejoining the conversation with Jet. "What do you mean by _"class"_? Does that mean that there can be multiple Gems with the same name?"

"Of course it does Steven." said Pearl. "If there weren't, then we wouldn't even have to worry about Homeworld because there'd be so few of them to begin with."

"I suppose that makes sense." said Steven.

"A Gem class is the type or category a Gem falls into." said Pearl. "Their class designates what sort of role they are most suited for, and what types of abilities they will have. Homeworld Gems have a caste-based system, and within each of those castes, there are several Gems of different classes and types. For example, Onyx-class Gems have a fighting role, and they're pretty good at it too. They are known for being some of the most formidable warriors that the Gem Empire has to offer. Fusions can also fall into a class as well. For example, Sardonyx is also considered an Onyx-class Gem. Since Jet's mother Onyx was an Onyx-class Gem, that means Jet would be considered one too, since he now has her Gem. Usually, you can tell very easily what class or type a Gem is based on the color, shape, and size of their gem."

"That's interesting." said Steven. "So what kind of Gem class am I?"

"You, or Rose to be more precise, was a Quartz-class Gem." said Pearl. "Quartz-class Gems can also have a fighting role, and they are often known for their formidable defensive capabilities and innate toughness. Another example would be Amethyst, who is also considered a Quartz-class Gem."

"What about Peridot, or Lapis?" asked Steven, now even more interested. "What types of Gems are they?"

"Peridot is a Peridot-class Gem." said Pearl. "Peridots are somewhat common, and are also pretty low in the caste system, just like Pearls are, though slightly higher. While Peridots are not really meant for combat, they are very tech savvy and are also very skilled with machines. They are the Gems who are responsible for managing, operating, maintaining, and repairing all of the advanced technology of the Gem Empire."

"So what about Lapis?" asked Steven.

"As for Lapis, I have no idea what Gem-class she is." said Pearl. "I've never seen a Gem type like hers before. There's something special and unique about her. She seems to be very powerful, and I have a feeling that a long time ago, she might have been a high ranking Gem back on Homeworld."

"So, what type of Gem are you then?" asked Steven.

"Oh me?" said Pearl. "I'm just a regular, boring, Pearl-class Gem. There's nothing really amazing or spectacular about Pearls. Pearls are a mass-produced type of Gem, and they usually have the role of servants in Gem society. They have minimal fighting abilities of their own, and they're also used as grunt soldiers or cannon fodder by the Gem military forces. On the other hand, Quartz-type Gems like Jasper are often the generals or commanders of the Gem military forces who lead them into battle. Despite all this, Rose didn't see me in that way. Instead of seeing me as expendable like most other Gems would have, she saw me as a true equal."

"I still think you're amazing Pearl." said Steven.

"Thank you Steven." said Pearl, smiling.

"Here on Earth, there are no Gem classes or castes." said Garnet, joining into the conversation. "Here, we are free to be who we want to be, and do what we want, without being oppressed by the tyrannical ruling class of Homeworld."

"Hey Jet, I just realized something." said Steven, suddenly having a new thought.

"What is it Steven?" asked Jet.

"If my mom and your mom were sisters, then doesn't that basically make us cousins?"

"I never thought of it that way." said Jet, now seeming surprised. "Hmm, I guess it does."

"Welcome to the family then." said Steven, now sounding excited. "I don't have any siblings, so maybe this is what it feels like to have one?"

"I don't have any siblings either." said Jet. "I'm glad to be part of your family Steven."

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were all surprised by this new revelation. They all then started to embrace Jet and welcome him, as if he were their kin.

"I'm so glad I got to meet you." said Pearl, who had tears in her eyes due getting very emotional. "You really are the child of Onyx."

 _"All of these Gems here, they're all treating me like family."_ Jet thought to himself. _"I've never really experienced anything quite like this before. Throughout my whole life, it's just been me and my dad. He was always busy, so he couldn't really spend much time with me. I've always been alone, facing everything on my own, with no one to stand beside me. Is this what it means to have friends and family? All of these Gems, they all feel such an intense connection to this one boy Steven. It's this infectious charm that seems to gather people to him, both human and Gem. Maybe in time, I will come to know that same feeling and connection as well."_

"So what now?" asked Jet. "Where do I go from here?"

"I have suggestion." said Garnet. "Jet, how would you like to join the Crystal Gems and become a part of us, like Steven has?"

"Join you guys?" asked Jet, surprised by the offer.

"We'd love to have you join us." said Garnet. "If you join, Steven will also have someone else who can watch his back and help keep him safe from danger."

Jet thought for a few moments, and then finally reached a decision.

"Okay then, I'll join you." said Jet.

"That's great Jet." said Steven. "I guess now this means your life won't be so boring and uneventful anymore. Now that you're part of the Crystal Gems, you'll be going on a lot of fun and exciting adventures."

"I'm looking forward to it." said Jet.

"You're just like Onyx." said Pearl, smiling. "That craving for adventure definitely comes from her."

"So Jet, if you're my family now, then that means I've got to introduce you to your uncle; my dad." said Steven. "Come on, I'll take you to see him."

Steven then started to walk out the door, and Jet followed behind him as Steven led him to where Greg was.

* * *

A few days later, Steven and Jet were hanging out on the hill with the lighthouse on top that overlooked the temple.

"You know Steven, I've been thinking." said Jet. "There's something I'd like to ask you before I fully accept being a part of this Crystal Gem thing."

"What is it?" asked Steven.

"What was it like growing up being a half-Gem all your life and people knowing about it?" asked Jet. "Did you ever feel as though people might have looked at you a little differently or treated you differently? Did you ever feel out of place, and like you just didn't belong because you were a half-Gem? Have you sometimes felt like you were caught between two worlds, neither human or a Gem, and you felt like nobody would understand you?"

"It was never like that at all for me." said Steven. "That's because the Crystal Gems and everyone else has always been there for me, supporting me. They always stood beside me, no matter what. The same goes for you Jet. I'll always be by your side and support you too, and so will the Crystal Gems. They'll accept you for who you are."

"That's the answer I was hoping for." said Jet, smiling. "We should just be ourselves from now on, and do what we want, regardless of what everyone else thinks of us. I'll always have your back too Steven. That's what friends are for after all."

"You'll stick by me too no matter what then?" asked Steven. "Through all the trouble that will come our way?"

"Oh course I will." said Jet. "We'll be an unstoppable team, just like how our moms Rose and Onyx were. I'll be the sword, and you'll be the shield, just like how it was for them. Nobody will be able to stop us on our path to glory."

Jet said that last line with a smirk, as he struck a heroic pose. It seems that his superhero alter ego had briefly come to the surface.

"But I thought Connie was already my sword." said Steven.

"She still is." said Jet. "This just means you have two swords now."

"Two swords?" said Steven.

"There are some things Connie can do that I can't do, and there are some things I can do that Connie can't do." said Jet. "You'll need both of our skills for all the battles we'll likely face in the future. Connie won't always be able to go with you on all your Gem missions, but I can because I'm a half-Gem like you. Remember, she's still only human after all. She isn't as durable as a Gem or half-Gem like we are."

In his hands, Jet was holding some some sort of black cloak, and he seemed to be stitching something to it.

"Alright then, we'll be battle buddies." said Steven.

"Not only that." said Jet. "We'll be sworn brothers of the sword, just like in those stories Connie would tell you about where two warriors would swear brotherhood to each other. We're already sort of brothers aren't we?"

"Yeah, I guess we are... brother." said Steven, smiling and playfully punching Jet in the shoulder.

Jet then finished with the cloak he was working on and finally put it on, as if it were the cape of some superhero.

"Steven, from this day on, we'll brothers." said Jet. "In my normal, everyday life, I'm Jet Nova, but in my life as a Crystal Gem, my new superhero alter ego will be called... Jet Universe."

Jet was standing at the edge of the cliff and looking off into the sunset. On the back of Jet's cloak was the design of a yellow star, just like the one on Steven's shirts.

* * *

 **Fun fact: Jet and Jean's last names are both Nova, which has a space theme to it, just like Universe, the last names of Steven and Greg. Also, Jet's middle name is his mother's name Onyx, making his full name Jet Onyx Nova.**


	3. Ocean Blues

Several days had now passed since Jet had joined the Crystal Gems. It was nighttime, and Steven was now asleep in his bed at the beach house. Outside on the beach however, something strange was starting to happen. The ocean water suddenly started to turn a strange greenish color, which spread with a consistency almost like that of ink leaking into water, and dead fishes began to float to the surface.

The next morning, everyone was gathered in the temple, relaxing and minding their own business. The day felt just about as normal as any other day there had ever been in Beach City. Upstairs in his room, Steven was watching T.V and simply enjoying himself, as was everyone else on this perfectly normal day. Then, someone rushed into the beach house. It was Pearl, who seemed to look very worried.

"Everyone, this really bad!" said Pearl, frantically. "We might have a serious problem on our hands."

"What is it now? asked Garnet. "More trouble?"

"I don't really know how to explain it." said Pearl. "Just go look outside."

Everyone, now noticeably worried by what it could be, got up and followed Pearl outside to see what was wrong. Immediately upon reaching the beach, they were all greeted by a strange and sickening sight. All of the water in the ocean had turned a disgusting greenish color, and it had a nasty, polluted, and toxic look to it. The water bubbled and oozed in several places on the surface. All along the shore were various dead sea creatures and fish that had washed ashore from the ocean. Many of the residents of Beach City were gathered along the shore, looking out into the ocean, obviously puzzled by what was going on.

"What in the world..." said Garnet. "How did this happen? The beach was perfectly normal yesterday."

"I don't know." said Pearl. "When I went outside this morning, the beach was like this."

"What could have done something like this to the ocean?" asked Steven.

After examining the water for a bit, everyone then went back inside. They sat down and started to discuss many possibilities and theories. Steven then walked over to the sink to get a drink of water and started to fill a glass. Suddenly, he had a fearful thought dawn on him.

"Wait a minute, what if this is somehow related to Lapis!" said Steven, calling out loud in a light bulb moment.

"Oh yeah, she's still at the bottom of the ocean isn't she?" said Amethyst.

"That could definitely be a possibility." said Garnet.

"What would be causing her to do this?" asked Pearl. "Could it be related to her fusion with Jasper?"

"Do you think Lapis is in pain?" said Steven, putting his hands on his face in worry."Is she hurt?"

Steven now seemed frantic and worried.

"Oh no, this is bad..." said Garnet, suddenly looking at Amethyst and Pearl with a very serious and worried expression that seemed to convey that she knew what was going on.

"What's happening to her!?" asked Steven.

"Steven, Lapis is starting to turn into a corrupted Gem." said Garnet, with a solemn tone. "Her hateful fusion with Jasper is starting to corrupt her, and that in turn is probably what's causing the oceans to become toxic like this. Her internal pain and is starting to affect the surrounding environment."

"Not only will Lapis turn into a corrupted Gem, but if this continues, all of Earth's oceans could become poisoned." said Pearl, coming into the conversation. "If the ocean's become toxic, then all of the marine life on this planet will die, and that will in turn cause a chain reaction that could permanently damage this planet's ecosystem, and lead to the extinction of all life on Earth."

"What!" exclaimed Steven. "Are you serious?"

"If something isn't done quick, it could have serious consequences for Earth." said Garnet. "We have to do something about this."

"From the way things look, we don't have much time either." said Pearl. "At the rate at which it's expanding, I'd say we have about five to ten days before all of the Earth's oceans die."

"We're really between a rock and hard place now aren't we?" said Steven. "What should do we do?"

The group was now debating amongst themselves what their next course of action should be. They were starting to realize that the problem of Lapis was now a more serious and immediate danger to the Earth than they wanted to admit.

"Anyone have any ideas for how we should fix this? asked Amethyst.

"First we have to find out where she is now." said Garnet. "That's the part we still don't know."

As they were talking, Steven heard someone knock on the door nearby and call over to him.

"Hey, Steven." said the voice. "Are you there?"

Steven walked over to the door to answer it, and found that it was Jet.

"There you are." said Jet. "I've been looking for you all day Steven."

"Hey Jet." said Steven. "You're here too now? I take it you already know about what's going on with the oceans by now?"

"Part of it." said Jet. "You can explain the rest to me later, but right now, I really need your help with something."

"What is it?" asked Steven.

"It's about one of your weird friends." said Jet. "The whole day they've been following me around. He just won't go away. For some reason he really wants to see you, and he keeps insisting that I take him to meet you. I can't understand anything he's saying. He speaks in some weird language. You probably know who I'm talking about. He's short, has yellow hair, doesn't say much, and he's very mischievous."

"You mean Onion?" said Steven, now noticing Onion arriving behind Jet.

"So that's his name?" said Jet.

"What is it buddy?" asked Steven, turning to Onion.

Onion then started to speak to Steven in his weird mumbling language. Steven seemed to understand some of it and nodded his head a few times.

"I see... I don't get it it." said Steven.

Onion then grabbed a hold of one of Steven's arms and started to pull him on him and lead him away.

"What is it Onion?" asked Steven. "Do you want me to follow you?"

"I guess he does." said Jet.

Steven and Jet started to follow after Onion as they both left the beach. As they were leaving, Garnet seemed to notice them.

"Where are you going Steven?" asked Garnet.

"I'm not really sure." said Steven. "It's an Onion Emergency. We'll probably be back later."

"Don't worry, I'll go with him." said Jet. "See ya later."

"Garnet, while we're gone, try to think of some kind of plan for us to fix this and save Lapis." said Steven.

"Okay, we will." said Garnet, waving goodbye to Steven.

Steven, Jet, and Onion then disappeared into the town.

* * *

As Steven and Jet continued following Onion through Beach City, it was starting to turn dark.

"Dang Steven, where is this kid taking us?" asked Jet, now annoyed. "It's already nighttime. He better not be leading us to some creepy dark alley to do who knows what to us."

"Onion, are we almost there?" asked Steven.

The three of them soon arrived at the docks of Beach City. Anchored at the end of one of the piers was the boat of Yellowtail, Onion's father, who was waiting on board. Onion then began babbling in his strange language and started gesturing towards the boat.

"What is it?" asked Steven. "You want us to get on the boat?"

Onion nodded his head, giving a positive response that signaled that Steven's guess was correct.

"Okay then." said Steven. "But we have to be back before dinner, so we'll have to make this quick."

"Steven, can we trust this kid?" asked Jet, feeling somewhat suspicious of Onion's intentions. "I don't feel too good about this."

"Yes, we can." said Steven. "It might not seem like it, but me and Onion are actually good friends. He wouldn't do something like this unless he had a very good reason to... whatever it might be."

Steven and Jet then got on the boat with Onion. When everyone was on board, Yellowtail released the boat from the docks and started to steer it out towards the open ocean.

"So Steven, what's going on with the oceans?" asked Jet. "You kind of seem to know a little bit about what's happening."

"It probably has something to do with Lapis." said Steven.

"Lapis?" said Jet. "Who's that?"

"Oh yeah that's right, I haven't told you about her." said Steven. "Lapis is Gem who's a friend of mine. She was originally a Homeworld Gem, but decided to help us instead, and she fused into Malachite with an evil Gem named Jasper in order to drag her down to the bottom of the ocean where she can keep her imprisoned so that she can't hurt anyone or report back to Homeworld. We've been trying to find her ever since, but so far we've had no luck."

As Steven explained the story to Jet, the boat continued off into the horizon until it eventually reached an outcropping of rocks that jutted out from a shore further out into the sea. As the boat came near the rocks, Steven and Jet noticed something strange near one of them. The greenish polluted water in the surrounding area all seemed to be focusing from here and spreading outwards. In the middle of the spot in the water, there was a cluster of dead fish floating on the surface, and the water seemed to be boiling and creating many bubbles. Soon, the boat was right next to this center of death. Onion and Yellowtail then both started to speak in their strange language and gestured towards the water.

"Why did they take us here?" asked Jet. "What's so significant about this spot?"

Steven looked at the water for a while and examined it closely, trying to figure out what it could mean. He then started to have a thought.

"Can if be..." said Steven. "It is! Lapis is here! She's here, right beneath the surface of the water!" Steven began jumping up and down excitedly.

"Now that we know where she is, what are we going to do about it?" asked Jet.

"I wonder if she can hear me?" asked Steven.

Steven began calling out to Lapis, but there was no response. He then began to lean over the side of the boat and tried to reach his hand down into the water. Yellowtail then immediately pulled Steven back and started to frantically say something in his language, almost as if he was chastising Steven for something. Yellowtail then held out a fishing rod and dipped it into the water. He pulled it out, and as he did so, the end of the pole started to melt and dissolve from having touched the polluted seawater. It was now obvious why Yellowtail had stopped Steven from touching the water. In this area, the water seemed to be highly acidic.

"Yikes, I'm glad you stopped me Yellowtail." said Steven.

"We've found her, but it doesn't really seem like there's anything we can do right now." said Jet.

"We have to go tell everyone at the temple that we've found her." said Steven.

"Let's start heading back then." said Jet. "It's already late. By the time we get back, it'll probably be morning."

"Pearl must be worried." said Steven. "Okay Yellowtail, take us home."

The boat then left the rocky atoll and headed on its way back to Beach City.

* * *

The sun was now starting to rise in the sky as morning approached. Inside the temple, there was a news report being broadcasted on the T.V about the current situation going on with the ocean.

"It's spreading very far." said Pearl. "It's already reached all the way down the east coast now. The humans on the news think that it's some kind of toxic chemical spill, but they have no idea where it's really coming from."

"We've got to hurry and find her before this gets any worse." said Garnet.

"How can one Gem be causing all of this?" asked Amethyst. "She's effecting the ecosystem of an entire planet."

"Lapis is a very powerful Gem." said Pearl. "You might not be aware of this, but there are actually Gems out there who are capable of devastating entire planets with their powers. Gems who are even stronger than all of us here put together."

"What!?" exclaimed Amethyst, shocked. "There are actually Gems like that out there somewhere!?"

'Yes, but not to worry, aside from Lapis, there aren't any others like that here on Earth, and we encountered very few of them during the rebellion." said Pearl. "The only Gems who really posses that kind of power would be the Diamonds, and possibly their highest ranking commanders."

As they continued talking, Steven and Jet ran into the beach house, panting and their clothes covered in dirt, and the other passengers from the boat catching up behind them. Pearl then immediately ran up to Steven.

"Steven, where have you been!" exclaimed Pearl. "Do you know how worried I was when I heard that you'd gone off on a boat with that demon child?"

Ever since that one incident with Onion in Beach City, Pearl has harbored an immense distrust and fear of Onion.

"Finally, I'm off that stupid boat." said Jet.

"I'm glad at least you went with him to keep him safe." said Pearl, looking at Jet.

"We don't really have time to explain, but we have some, good news." said Steven, still breathing heavily from running all the way to the temple. "Everyone, we've found where Lapis is!"

The Crystal Gem's attention seemed to be immediately grabbed and they all turned towards Steven.

"You do!?" exclaimed Pearl.

"Yes, we found the spot in the ocean where she is." said Steven.

"How in the world did you find her?" asked Pearl.

"It was actually Onion and his dad Yellowtail that led us there." said Steven.

"He of all people found Lapis, when we couldn't after months of searching?" said Pearl. "I will never understand the method behind that child's madness."

"Very good Steven, and Jet." said Garnet. "That's already one part of the plan taken care of. Now that we've found her, we can move on to the next part of the plan; removing Malachite from the ocean."

"Removing her from the ocean?" asked Steven.

"Yes." said Garnet. "At this point, it may be the only option me have left to stop the spread of the toxins she's releasing into the ocean before they destroy the Earth's ecosystem. Removing the source of the toxins could possibly even reverse their effects."

"Our hand is being forced." said Pearl. "Malachite's imprisonment at the bottom of the ocean has now turned into a serious problem that we can no longer just ignore and turn our heads away from, like we've been doing up until this point."

"We'll have to remove her by force." said Garnet. "It doesn't matter if we have to drag her out kicking and screaming ourselves. No matter how much she wants us to leave her alone, we have to do it. She doesn't realize what her pain and selfishness is doing to the Earth. It's either her or the planet."

"I guess you're right." said Steven, sorrowfully. "As much as I don't want to accept it, it's the truth."

"So what's the plan?" asked Jet.

"Here's how we'll do it." said Garnet. "First, Pearl and Jet will wait here on the shore, and I'll go with Amethyst and Steven on the boat to where Malachite is. Steven, we'll need you to lead us there. Once we're there, Amethyst and I will fuse into Sugilite and go into the water. From there, we'll have to grab a hold of Malachite and drag her out of the water. When we start to drag Malachite out of the ocean, we'll need to make our way towards the shore. Once we're back on land, we'll most likely have to fight her. Pearl and Jet will then join in and help us in fighting her. This will likely be a very difficult fight. We'll have to cause enough damage to Malachite in order to make her defuse, and if we have to, we'll also poof Lapis and Jasper."

"Sounds like a plan." said Jet.

"Alright then, lets put this plan into action." said Garnet.

"Are we going to have to hurt Lapis?" asked Steven, sounding worried.

"We're not going to hurt her; we're just going to give Lapis some tough love." said Garnet, putting her fists together. "She may not like it, but it's for her own good."

Everyone then began to walk outside and went about preparing for the task at hand. Pearl and Jet both got into position at the shore of the beach, while Steven started to lead Garnet and Amethyst towards the docks, where Onion and Yellowtail would take them with his boat to where Lapis was.

* * *

The boat was finally starting to come into view of the spot in the ocean where Malachite was located. Upon reaching the bubbling spot next to the rocky outcropping, Garnet stopped to examine it.

"She's down there." said Steven. "Be careful though, the water here is very acidic. It's too dangerous for me to go in."

"Is everyone ready?" asked Garnet. "Amethyst, are you ready to form Sugilite?"

"I am." said Amethyst.

Garnet and Amethyst then began to do their fusion dance on the deck of the ship. As they moved in closer to each other, they began to fuse and their size grew as they formed into Sugilite.

"Wait a minute, is it a good idea for you to to do that on the boat?" asked Steven.

It was too late however. Sugilite had now been formed, and the boat immediately became weighed down on one end, causing it to stand up into the air.

"It feels so good to finally be back." said Sugilite. "Here I come Malachite. Canon ball!"

Sugilite then jump straight into the water, releasing the weight from the boat, allowing it to settle back down on its hull. As she splashed into the water, it created a large shock wave below that sent the boats back a little bit. The water where Sugilite had entered from started to quake and thrash, as if a violent struggle was going on underneath. As Steven watched the surface of the water, he saw something begin to emerge. It was Sugilite, and in her arms she held Malachite above her head, so that she couldn't escape back into the water. All that could be heard were Malachite's screams and cries, which sounded very monstrous.

"The corruption really is getting worse." said Steven. "She can't even speak anymore. She's losing herself."

Sugilite then began to wade through the water towards the direction of the shore. There were acidic toxins dripping from Malachite's skin right onto Sugilite, causing her to scream out in pain.

"Ahh, it burns so much!" yelled Sugilite. "We have to hurry. I can't hold out like this forever. We just need to make it to the shore before we defuse."

Sugilite now held Malachite tightly in her grip, and as she made her way back towards the shore, the boat followed behind her.

As Pearl and Jet were waiting on the shore by the temple, they looked off into the horizon. In the distance, they could see the boat approaching, and alongside it was Sugilite, who was carrying Malachite in her grip. Sugilite finally reached the shore and dropped Malachite onto the sand, and as the boat reached the shore, Steven immediately jumped off and ran over to join Pearl and Jet. Sugilite had now finally reached her limit; she was about to fall apart.

"It hurts, it hurts!" said Sugilite, screaming in pain from all of the acid burns.

She then finally defused, separating into Garnet and Amethyst again.

"Ow ow ow." said Amethyst, who rolled around in the sand due to the pain of all the acid burns, and then poofing in order to regenerate her body.

"It's all up to you guys now." said Garnet, slowly crawling towards Steven, Pearl, and Jet. "You know what to do."

Garnet gave them a thumbs up, and then she too poofed into her two separate Gems in order to take time to repair the damage that had been done to her body by Malachite. Steven, Jet, and Pearl then began to direct their attention towards the monstrous Gem fusion Malachite standing on the shore. She looked even more deformed and hideous then the first time they had seen her, no doubt due to the corruption that was beginning to take hold of her. All over her body, acidic toxins dripped from her skin, and it looked almost as if she were melting. Having to fight her up close would be very difficult. Everywhere she stepped, the ground sizzled and hissed, as a blueish-green acid flowed all around her like lava.

Pearl, Steven, and Jet then summoned their weapons. Pearl summoned her spear, Steven summoned his shield, and Jet summoned his sword. Jet's black sword seemed to catch Pearl's eye.

"I remember that weapon Jet." said Pearl. "That was Onyx's sword."

"I've been practicing how to use it for a while now." said Jet. "I've gotten pretty good at it."

Pearl, Jet, and Steven then charged towards Malachite and began to fight her. As they were fighting, something strange started to occur. Out of the acidic toxins flowing on the beach,there sprouted several fluid-like greenish arms that attacked and grabbed at everything around them. Steven rushed out in front of Malachite and started deflecting her attacks with his shield.

"Steven, don't fight that monster head on!" Jet called out. "She's too strong!"

Pearl and Jet then circled around to where Malachite's legs were and began to attack them, and managed to chop two of them off, causing Malachite to let out a scream of pain. As they were doing this, several liquid-like green arms started to sprout from Malachite's back to attack them. This forced then to get away from her in order to avoid the sprouting arms. Jet blocked each of the arms with his sword, and as one grabbed his sword, the blade did something very unusual. Suddenly, the tip bent into a sharp right angle and began moving on its own and piercing the arms in a snake-like, zigzagging pattern. The blade of the sword had suddenly become flexible, and Jet was now controlling its movements, almost like a steel whip. After stabbing the arms, he had the black ribbon that was the blade retract back and harden into a normal sword again.

"That's so cool." said Steven. "I didn't know your sword could do that Jet."

"It's a special ability my sword has." said Jet. "It isn't very easy to control."

Malachite resumed her attack with increased ferocity. As this was happening however, something unexpected started to occur. All of the surrounding green liquid began to freeze, and it started to travel up Malachite's body, causing her liquid covering of acidic toxins to freeze as well, and her legs and body became trapped. Everyone turned around to see where this ice was coming from and saw that Sapphire standing nearby, using her ice powers to assist them.

"Ruby seems to be taking a little longer to regenerate, so I decided my powers might be useful to you." said Sapphire. "Now's your chance! She's trapped! Hit her with everything you've got and force her out of her fusion!"

Everyone then turned their attention back towards Malachite. It was likely that she would not stay subdued for long. She would eventually break free from the hold of the ice. It was now all or nothing, as everyone prepared for the final attack.

"Are you ready to do this Steven?" asked Jet, raising his sword and getting into position. "It'll be our final, special attack, just like we've been practicing."

"I'm ready." said Steven, raising his shield. "Remember, we have to be careful not to crack Lapis' gem."

"Okay then, let's do this." said Jet.

The two of them then started to charge towards Malachite, ready to attack with all of their might. Jet with his sword drawn to attack, and Steven with his shield out to defend. It was like a mirror image of Rose and Onyx when they fought together in the past. They reached Malachite, who was now starting to break free and attack. Steven blocked all of her attacks with his shield, until she started pushing her arms against it.

"Sorry Lapis, you may not like it, but this is for your own good." said Steven. "Jet, do it now!"

Jet jumped onto the top of Steven's shield, and then as he crouched, launched himself off with a powerful jump, heading straight towards Malachite's head. He held out his sword and as he flew straight towards her, it pierced her right in the head, and his blade slid down her face.

"Look away Steven." said Jet. "You might not want to see this."

Malachite convulsed, and then fell over, motionless. Jet removed his sword from Malachite and looked to Steven.

"Did we do it?" asked Jet.

"I don't know." said Steven.

Suddenly, Malachite's body began to glow and swell. It kept getting bigger and bigger, until it just burst, causing all of the acidic toxins that covered her to be shot into the air, which then rained down all over the beach. Everyone on the beach started looking for cover and running away to find a safe place from the deadly shower. Steven formed a bubble around himself and Jet, keeping the two of them safe. As the rain fell, the two parts that made up the fusion fell to the ground. One was the Gem of Lapis Lazuli, and the other was Jasper herself, who had managed to hold out a little longer after being separated from Malachite.

"Curse you, you filthy traitorous Gems!" yelled Jasper. "You'll pay for this! Just wait until Yellow Diamond finds out about you!"

Those were the last words she was able to say before she too was poofed from the damage done to her body.

"Quick, someone bubble her!" Pearl called out when the acid rain had stopped.

Everyone on the beach immediately began rushing over towards Jasper's Gem. As they got there, a red bubble formed around it. Everyone turned to see who it was that had created the bubble and found that it was Ruby, who had now fully regenerated.

"How does it feel Jasper?" said Ruby. "This is payback for what you did to us on the ship."

Ruby then made the bubble disappear, sending it on its way to the Bubble Room in the temple.

Steven immediately released his bubble shield and then ran over to Lapis' Gem. He picked it up and held it close to him.

"Everything's okay now Lapis, you're safe." Steven said to her gem.

"It's finally over." said Pearl, now relieved and plopping down into the sand.

After assessing the damage to the surrounding area, everyone started to go back into the beach house. As they were walking back inside, Pearl noticed Jet holding onto one of his arms. Curious, she went over to him to see what was wrong.

"Is something wrong Jet?" asked Pearl. "Did you get hurt."

"It's nothing." said Jet. "I just got burnt a little by some of Malachite's acid during the battle."

On Jet's arm was a small burn mark, which already looked as though it was fading.

"It seems you've also inherited something else from Onyx." said Pearl, smiling. "Her healing and regeneration abilities."

"She had healing powers?" asked Jet. "I suspected something like that might be true."

"What do you mean?" asked Pearl.

"A long time ago, back when I was a kid, I had once broken my arm." said Jet. "It was obvious that I would have to go to doctor to have them look at it, and my dad was pretty freaked out it. He was worried about what would happen if they ever saw my Gem, and didn't know how he would be able explain it to the doctors. I'm not really sure why it was such a big deal if they found out I was a half-Gem. A lot of people already know Steven is one, and they don't seem to care much. I think that he might have been worried about it for another reason, which he wouldn't say. Despite all that, over the next few days, my arm somehow was able to heal on its own. It didn't really make sense to me at the time, but now I understand."

"Onyx may have had healing powers, but hers were much different from Rose's." said Pearl. "Rose's healing powers were outward; she could heal others. Onyx's healing powers on the other hand were inward, meaning that she could heal herself. She could regenerate any damage done to her body without having to first retreat back into her Gem."

"Something like that will definitely be helpful in the future." said Jet. "I'll most likely end up getting hurt a lot."

Pearl then went over to Steven to speak with him, and she was joined by Ruby and Sapphire.

"With Malachite gone, the ocean should now go back to its original state over the next few days." said Sapphire. "Now that we've stopped the corruption before it could fully consume her, Lapis has been saved."

"What about Lapis' Gem?" asked Pearl. "Are there any cracks in it?"

"No, none at all." said Steven, holding up Lapis' gem. "But she still hasn't come out yet. Why? Is she too scared to come out?"

"She should be perfectly fine now." said Pearl. "The only thing keeping her from coming out now is her. It's all up to Lapis now, but it doesn't seem like she wants to come out. A Gem can stay inside their gem forever if they wanted to after poofing, so who knows when she might decide to come out."

Steven seemed to have a sad look on his face upon hearing this.

"Well, until she comes out, I'm going to make sure her Gem stays safe." said Steven. "I'll carry it with me wherever I go."

"Hey man, at least we saved the oceans." said Amethyst. "You should at least be happy about that."

Everyone then began to relax, having had a very long and exhausting day.

* * *

Several days passed by, and Lapis had still not emerged from her Gem. As expected, the oceans eventually returned to normal, and the acidic toxins had completely dissolved away. Even so, Steven did not give up hope. He acted as though Lapis was really there with him, and he took her gem around Beach City with him, showing her everything. He even introduced her to Connie. Over the course of the few days that passed, Steven and Jet took turns carrying around her gem around and protecting it. They took her everywhere with them. To the movies, to the beach, to the lighthouse, to Funland, to the car wash, and even to the Big Doughnut.

Later one day, Steven and Jet were alone in the living room of the beach house, both of them bored out of their minds. They were sitting on the couch next to the table, and were playing a board game. Suddenly, something started to happen. Lapis' Gem, which was laying on the couch in the space between the two of them, started to glow and levitate. As it did so, a figure began to form in the air, and when it was done forming, it fell out of the air and landed on the seat of the couch. Both Steven and Jet looked at the new arrival with shocked expressions.

"Hi there." said Jet, casually. "Nice to meet you."

"Lapis, you're finally back!" Steven yelled in excitement.

Steven was jumping for joy. Lapis had finally decided to come out of her Gem, and was now right there next to him. Steven embraced her, happy to finally have her back.

"Hello Steven." said Lapis, softly. "I'm glad to see you too."

"Finally decided to come out?" said Jet.

"What happened to me?" asked Lapis, taking a look around the room. "How did I end up here?"

"We saved you from becoming a corrupted Gem when you were Malachite." said Jet. "It sure was a close one."

"Who are you?" asked Lapis. "I've never seen you before."

"Oh me, I'm Jet." said Jet. "I'm a friend of Steven's. The two of us are almost like brothers."

"You're free now Lapis." said Steven, tearfully. "You've been separated from Malachite. You don't have to suffer anymore. Jasper has no power over you now, and she can't hurt you anymore. We made sure of that."

"You really did that for me?" asked Lapis, puzzled. "Why would you do that?"

"You're memory must be a little fuzzy right now." said Jet. "The corruption probably took a heavy toll on your mind, but now you should be fully recovered."

"Hey Steven, what's with all the racket?" asked Amethyst, walking into the room.

Amethyst then turned around and saw Lapis.

"Oh..." said Amethyst, now surprised.

A few minutes later, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were all in the living room, gathered around Lapis and eager to greet her.

"Why are all of you..." Lapis started to say.

Suddenly, everything started coming back to Lapis, and all of the memories of what had happened before she reemerged from her gem suddenly flashed through her mind.

"Is something wrong Lapis?" asked Steven.

"No, no... Steven why did you free me?" asked Lapis. "I'm so terrible... You should have left me at the bottom of the ocean where I belonged. That's what I deserved."

"Why would we do that Lapis?" asked Steven. "You're my friend Lapis. I couldn't just leave you there to suffer at the bottom of the ocean, boiling in your own anguish. We couldn't just leave you. You didn't deserve any of what happened to you. Not only did we save you from Jasper, but we also saved you from yourself."

"Lapis, there's something we'd all like to tell you." said Garnet.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl then suddenly got on their knees and faced towards Lapis.

"What are you doing?" asked Lapis, now confused.

"Lapis, we would like to apologize to you." said Pearl.

"Apologize for what?" asked Lapis.

"For leaving you trapped in that mirror for so long." said Amethyst.

"We had no idea you were even in there." said Garnet. "If we'd have known, we would have done everything in our power to set you free. If we'd have done that, all of this could have been prevented, and you wouldn't have had to suffer for our sake to keep Jasper imprisoned. It just wasn't right what happened to you. For that, we apologize."

Lapis looked all around the room, and saw everyone gathered there looking at her with such welcoming faces. There wasn't even a single hint of malice towards Lapis on any of their faces.

 _"How can they all just look at me like that."_ Lapis thought to herself. _"They all risked their lives, both body and soul, to save someone worthless like me. They cared enough about me to risk death for me. This is way more than someone like me deserves."_

Tears then started to flow down Lapis' eyes as she looked at everyone.

"What's wrong Lapis?" asked Steven. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm the one who should be apologizing." said Lapis. "I've done so many terrible things to all of you. Steven, I tried to drown you and your friend Connie, I stole away the Earth's oceans just for my own selfish goal of getting back to Homeworld, I sold you all out to Yellow Diamond's forces after they interrogated me, and because of that, they came here and hurt all of you. Even after that, I still continued to cause all of you grief when Malachite started poisoning the oceans and almost killed all life on Earth because of my corruption, and then I ended up hurting you even more when you fought against Malachite. How can you so easily just forgive me after all that I've done?"

"Its because that's just the kind of person Steven is." said Garnet, smiling. "Steven doesn't care about any of that. He accepts everyone, regardless of their background or past mistakes, as friends and family. Everyone he meets is somehow changed by just being around him, turning them into better people than they were before. He just has that effect on people. He's in every way just like Rose Quartz."

"Hey I know!" said Steven. "Why don't you stay here with us Lapis?"

"What!?" said Lapis, seeming shocked that Steven would even suggest such a thing.

"You're finally free from the bottom of the ocean, and from Jasper's hold on you, but you can't really go back to Homeworld either because of what happened can you?" said Steven. "You've got nowhere else to go, so why not stick with us here at the temple? This place is meant to be a sanctuary for lost Gems just like you."

"You would still accept me, even after everything I've done?" asked Lapis.

"Of course we would." said Steven. "Isn't that what friends do?"

 _"Friends?"_ Lapis said to herself in her mind. _"I could have friends like these too? Friends who would accept me for who I am?"_

She took a good look at everyone gathered in the room, taking them all in.

"Thank you Steven." said Lapis, tearfully embracing Steven. "This is something I never could have imagined happening, even in my wildest dreams. I'm never going back to Homeworld. I want to stay here, with you."

"Then welcome to the Crystal Gems Lapis." said Steven. "We're happy to have you here with us."

"How can I ever repay you for what you've done for me Steven?" asked Lapis.

"You don't don't have to repay us for anything." said Steven. "But if you want to make up for what you've done, then you can start by apologizing to all of the people you've hurt, like Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Connie, my dad, and everyone else."

"I'll start with you then." said Lapis, hugging Steven even tighter. "I'm sorry I hurt you Steven."

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Jet then all surrounded Lapis and hugged her as well.

* * *

 **Fun fact: The gemstone Malachite actually starts to turn toxic when it is left in water for too long. This is very fitting for the situation, as it represents the toxic nature of Lapis and Jasper's relationship.**

 **Jet's Weapon: If you don't know, Jet's sword is supposed to be based on an urumi. An urumi is a type of Indian sword that is like a sharp, flexible metal whip, which some users attack with as if it were a snake. It is a very difficult weapon to master. Jet's sword has two forms that he can switch between. The first is its sword form, where the blade is straight and hard, and it can be used as a regular sword. The second is its whip form, in which the blade becomes flexible, but still sharp, and Jet can control its movements in various ways, almost as though it were alive.**


	4. Fusion Fight

Over the next few days, Lapis began to quickly to adjust to her new life in Beach City. She now lived at the temple with the Crystal Gems, and they considered her a full member. She even had her own room. They had given her Sapphire's old room at the temple, which was the one with the blue stone on the door. That room in particular suited her fine because it had a watery environment; perfect for Lapis.

Steven couldn't remember ever seeing Lapis this happy before. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from her spirit, and she moved as though she was as light as air. It filled Steven with joy to see her like this. As of now, the only two people that Lapis had really been openly communicating with were Steven and Jet. This was most likely due to the fact that she had somehow subconsciously formed a bond with the two of them during the time when they were keeping her gem safe and protected, almost as if it were a precious egg.

As of now, Lapis had yet to form any sort of meaningful bond with the other members of the Crystal Gems, most likely because she felt as though they couldn't fully trust her yet, and that she would have to earn their trust. With the bond she had formed with Steven and Jet, it was almost as if they had formed their own trio of Gem warriors, equivalent to that of Garnet Amethyst, and Pearl. Now, it was as if there were two teams of Crystal Gems, with three members in each.

On this particular day, Steven and Jet were out on the beach training together, and also playing around. They had been practicing their combat skills on the beach for a while now, and were starting to get bored.

"I wonder where Pearl went?" asked Steven. "Today we were going to practice trying to do fusion."

"I don't know." said Jet. "I think I saw her go off to somewhere on the warp pad to do some Gem stuff."

"This is getting kind of boring without anyone else to train with." said Steven. "I wish Pearl were here."

"Hey Steven, I know what we should do." said Jet, having an idea. "Why don't we try fusing? We're both at least part Gem, so we should be able to do it, just like how you can do it with your friend Connie to form Stephanie."

"Her name's Stevonnie." said Steven, correcting him.

"Really?" asked Jet. "I think Stephanie sounds better."

"I remember that Pearl told me the other day that our moms Rose and Onyx once had a fusion named Hematite." said Steven. "It was very powerful, but it was also very hard to master and could easily go out of control if they weren't careful."

"That sounds awesome!" said Jet, now excited. "Steven, we have to try that."

"I don't know Jet." said Steven. "We might not be ready for that just just yet. It might be dangerous."

"Come on Steven, what's the worst that could happen?" asked Jet.

"Well, maybe it wouldn't hurt if we only tried it once; just for a few minutes." said Steven.

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?" asked Jet, now ready to start. "Are we supposed to do a dance or something? I've never fused before."

"There's usually a dance, but it's not really necessary all the time in order to fuse." said Steven. "Me and Connie didn't have to do a dance; we just fused. Usually, it would be two full Gems fusing together, and when I fused with Connie, it was a half-Gem fusing with a human. But for us, we're two half-Gems trying to fuse. I wonder what would happen if we fused?"

"It's kind of weird." said Jet. "If we were to fuse, would that make our fusion both a full Gem and a full human at the same time? We both have two halves of each, so what would happen if they came together?"

After a few minutes of trying, Steven and Jet were not having much luck and were starting to become frustrated.

"Are we doing it wrong?" asked Steven. "Nothing seems to be working."

"Maybe we're missing a step." said Jet. "Usually in those cartoons and anime I've seen on T.V, when two warriors are trying to fuse together, not only do they have to do a fusion dance, but they also have to gather their energy and scream a lot. Maybe we should try doing that?"

"Hmm, maybe..." said Steven. "Alright then, we'll try that."

Steven and Jet then began to take a battle stance and started trying to gather all of the energy in their bodies together. They then began screaming as if they were charging up their power. After that, they began to do a dance and put their hands together, then just stood there, waiting for something to happen.

"Okay, this is dumb." said Jet. "Nothing happened."

"Ugh, this is so frustrating." said Steven. "How did our moms do it back then? If only they were still around to help us."

Upon saying this, the gems of both Steven and Jet started to glow. The two of them then started to meld into each other and become one, until they had completely fused. Standing there now was a tall, four-armed male giant with grayish skin and long flowing hair, and it seemed to vaguely resemble the large statue on the outside of the temple, in a strange sort of way. The giant resembled something like an Asura from the Hindu and Buddhist mythologies.

"Woah, did we do it?" said the giant.

"We did do it!" the giant responded to itself. "We did it! We formed Hematite!"

"This feels so weird." said Hematite. "Rose and Onyx formed into this thing when they fused? Maybe it's a little different with us."

"Lets see what we can do." said Hematite.

Hematite then began to walk around the beach, and as they started to get the hang of it, they soon began experimenting with all of the things they could do, such as running, jumping, climbing, and swimming.

"This is so amazing." said Hematite. "It feels like we can do anything.

"Let's try summoning our weapons." said Hematite.

Hematite then reached his hands over both of his gems, and out of each of them he pulled two grayish colored swords, giving him four in total; one for each of his arms.

"Cool, we have four swords!" said Hematite. "This is awesome."

Hematite then started testing out his swords, slashing the air with them. It seemed as though he was having a lot of fun. He then walked over to the cliffs near the beach house and started to slash them as well. With very little effort, the rocks and boulders of the cliff were cut and shattered into many pieces, as if the were nothing but glass.

"Wow, we're strong." said Hematite.

Hematite started to slash at and destroy anything he could find in his surroundings with his swords as well as his own power, testing out his new found strength. He then began to laugh with joy.

"This is so much fun!" said Hematite. "It feels like we could take on all of Homeworld."

As this continued, Hematite's antics began to grow progressively more destructive, reckless, and dangerous, and he seemed to be enjoying it, laughing with glee as he did so. He didn't seem to care at all that people could get caught in the middle of it.

"Wait, this is starting to get out of hand." said Hematite. "People could get hurt if we keep doing this."

"What are you talking about?" said a frightening sounding voice, which suddenly came from Hematite. "Isn't this power what you wanted? With this you could crush all of your enemies, just like we did when we fought against Homeworld."

"What?" said Hematite, confused. 'What's going on? I feel so much anger and haterd inside me, like I just want to destroy everything. Where is this feeling coming from?"

Hematite then suddenly seemed to lose control and go berserk, slashing at and destroying everything in sight. He had gone completely wild. Then, something seemed to shoot out of Hematite's body, and land in the sand of the beach. Hematite then ran off, leaving it behind. It seemed to be a human, who was now very confused.

"What happened?" said the human. "Did we defuse Steven?"

"I think we did." the human responded back. "Are you alright Jet?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." said the human. "But where are you Steven."

"What are you talking about?" asked the human. "I'm right here. Where are you?"

"Wait a minute..." said the human, now freaked out.

The human then ran inside the beach house and into the bathroom, where he looked into the mirror. What he saw in the mirror was a plain, regular looking human teenager, who seemed to have a mix of features from both Steven and Jet. He searched for where his gem would be, but neither Steven's or Jet's gem was anywhere to be found on his body.

"What is this!" yelled the human. "What happened to us?"

The human ran back outside to where he previously was and searched around for their Gems. In the distance, he saw Hematite running around throughout Beach City on a rampage, and both of their Gems were still on his body.

"What in the world is going on!" exclaimed the human. "Just what exactly did we do!"

"This is bad." said the human fusion. "What should do we do?"

They thought hard for a moment, then had an idea.

"I know!" said the human. "Garnet will know what to do. She's a fusion too, so maybe she can help us."

They immediately ran off to find Garnet in the temple, passing by Amethyst and Lapis, leaving them with confused looks.

* * *

"What did you two do?" asked Garnet, confused by this new turn of events after the human had introduced himself to her.

"We were out on the beach trying to learn how to fuse into Hematite." said the human. "We didn't think we could at first, but somehow we managed to do it. It was amazing, and everything was going fine, but then all of the sudden, something went wrong and Hematite went berserk. Instead of defusing, for some reason we got ejected from Hematite like this, while our gems stayed with him. It's like we're two separate beings now. How did this happen Garnet?"

"Hmm... this is definitely the first time I've ever seen anything like this before." said Garnet. "It might have something to do with both of you being half-Gems. Since you each have a Gem half and a human half, when you fused it could have created an imbalance, and it was like two separate beings were formed. Both of your Gem halves remained with Hematite, making a full Gem, and both of your human halves were ejected from the fusion, creating a full human. Your human halves couldn't just come out separately, so they had to be fused into a whole other being in order to keep you alive. All of your Gem powers are now with Hematite, and this human you are now has none of them at all."

"Is there any way to fix this?" asked the human. "Can we go back to the way we were?"

"There might be a way." said Garnet. "But we're going to need everyone's help. Let's go get Amethyst, Pearl, and Lapis."

A few minutes later, everyone was gathered in the living room, even Pearl, who had returned from her mission.

"And that's what happened." the human fusion said to everyone gathered, finishing the explanation of the events leading up to their current predicament.

"So what does this make you guys?" asked Amethyst. "What should we call you now? Steven, Jet, Jeven, Set?"

"Set?" asked the human. "Isn't that the name of some Egyptian god of chaos and destruction?"

"That's perfect!" said Amethyst. "That sounds like a cool name."

"Maybe..." said the human. "Oh, I know. How about Seth? That's sounds good too. It's still sounds like a combination of both of our names, while still sounding normal."

"Okay then, Seth it is." said Amethyst.

"We're going to need all of your help in getting us back to normal." said Seth.

"Okay Tiger, what's the plan?" asked Amethyst.

"We will need you to help us stop Hematite and capture him, so that we can reenter the main fusion body." said Seth. "That way, we'll be able to defuse properly and go back to normal."

"However, there is something really important you all must be aware of." said Garnet. "When you fight Hematite, you must be absolutely careful not to kill Hematite or hurt him to the point that he defuses. If that happens, their Gems halves will disappear, along with their only chance of going back to normal."

"What if that does happen though?" asked Amethyst.

"Then they could potentially be stuck like this for the rest of their lives." said Garnet, her words sinking in heavily.

"Oh..." said Amethyst.

"When we fight Hematite, we'll be defenseless since we don't have our Gem powers." said Seth. "You'll have to make sure to keep us safe until we can get back into Hematite."

"Sounds like a plan." said Amethyst. "Lets do this."

Everyone then got up and started to leave the room, making their way towards Beach City, where Hematite was on the loose.

* * *

As the group made their way towards the city, they finally caught sight of Hematite.

"So that's Rose and Onyx's fusion?" said Pearl, surprised. "It looks so much different from how I remember it. The Hematite of Rose and Onyx was female. It might be because of Steven and Jet."

Amethyst, Pearl, and Lapis then rushed in to fight Hematite, while Garnet and Seth made their way towards him from behind. Hematite was a powerful fusion indeed, able to keep everyone at a distance with the slashes of his swords. Upon seeing Seth, Hematite began to do something unexpected. The berserk, rampaging fusion began to speak, and in a very angry, voice.

"Where are they!" yelled Hematite. "Where are Rose and Onyx! I want them back!"

"We are Rose and Onyx." said Seth.

"Liar!" yelled Hematite. "You're not them! I don't want you! Where is the rest of them! I want them back! Give me Rose and Onyx back. I want to be whole again!"

Tears were now flowing from Hematite's eyes.

"What does he mean that he wants to be whole again?" asked Seth.

"He probably wants to have the other halves of Rose and Onyx." said Garnet. "Hematite was the fusion of Rose and Onyx, so he had a deep connection to them. He doesn't understand that Rose and Onyx are no longer in this world, and that half of them became their children, while the other halves are now gone."

"What should we do?" asked Seth.

"There's only one thing we can do." said Garnet. "Amethyst, fuse with me."

"You're going to form Sugilite?" asked Seth.

"Back when Rose and Onyx were still around, we would constantly spar with each other as Hematite and Sugilite to get stronger." said Garnet. "The strength of our two fusions was almost equal. Sugilite may be the only one strong enough to stop and subdue Hematite."

"Okay then, do it." said Seth. "But please try not to hurt him. I know how rough Sugilite can be."

"We'll try." said Amethyst.

Garnet and Amethyst then began to perform their fusion dance and fused into Sugilite.

"Yes!" yelled Sugilite. "I'm back again, and so soon too."

All over Sugilite's body, there were various burn scars, most likely having been the result of Malachite's acidic toxins from her previous battle.

"That's weird." said Seth. "Sugilite's burns are all healed, but they left a bunch of scars on her body. They look permanent too."

"What!?" exclaimed Sugilite. "Are you serious!? It left scars!? I'm going to have to pay Malachite back for this!"

"You can do that later." said Pearl. "Right now, there's something more important to worry about."

Sugilite turned around and immediately noticed Hematite.

"It's been a while hasn't it, Hematite?" said Sugilite, smiling. "Fighting you is going to be so much fun, just like how it used to be back then. I've waited so long for this."

Sugilite then began charging at Hematite and they started to fight. They both fiercely exchanged blows with their weapons and fists.

"Why do you get in my way Sugilite?" asked Hematite. "I don't want to fight you. I just want Rose and Onyx back so I can be whole again."

"Just accept it all ready!" yelled Sugilite, with an almost sad tone to her voice. "Rose and Onyx are gone! You have to move on!"

"No!" yelled Hematite, with tears in his eyes. "I won't accept it! Rose and Onyx are still alive! I can feel it! Their other halves are nearby! Where are they!"

"It's always the same stubborn attitude with you every time." said Sugilite. "You leave me no choice then. It looks like I'll have to beat you until you accept it."

Hematite and Sugilite then once again began to exchange blows. With such ferocity, they punched each other with all four of their arms, landing several hard and fast blows on each other, and they were sent flying back. It was no use. The two of them were too evenly matched. Neither one of them would be able to beat the other. Sugilite would need something to give her an advantage in this fight. As the two of them got back up, Hematite found himself being grabbed by a large hand of water, and turned around to find that it was being created by Lapis. Seeing an opening, Sugilite rushed towards Hematite, and with a hard punch she sent him flying away. As Hematite was falling through the air, Pearl made an aerial attack against him, after having jumped after him, and with blinding speed she slashed Hematite several times. With a final slash, Hematite was sent plummeting straight into the ground, and as he landed, his swords fell from the sky and became impaled in the ground around him as they landed. Hematite saw that he had landed near Seth, and with as much strength as he could muster, he got up off the ground and started to make his way towards him.

"You!" yelled Hematite, while two of his arms fell off, the result of Pearl's attack. "This is all your fault! You killed Rose and Onyx!"

Hematite reached out and grabbed Seth with his two remaining arm and started trying to crush him. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his leg, as if something had bitten him, and it caused him to drop Seth. Hematite turned around to see what it was, and found that it was Steven's animal companion Lion, who had appeared and joined the battle, and was now biting into his leg. Hematite stopped and just stared at Lion for a moment, as if he were mesmerized by the sight of him.

"Can it be?" said Hematite. "It's you. You're..."

Lion then let go and started to run off.

"Wait, don't go." said Hematite. "Come back!"

Hematite began to chase after Lion, and their chase started to lead Hematite further and further away from Beach City.

"Lion?" said Seth, confused. "Where did he come from? Why's Hematite so interested in him?"

"It doesn't matter, we have to go after Hematite." said Seth.

Seth too then began to run after Hematite, and as he did so, Pearl followed along with him, leaving everyone else behind. The chase continued on down the shore of the beach, and as Hematite approached Lion, he felt a sharp pain in his left leg as Pearl stabbed it with her spear, causing him to fall to his knees. Unable to walk any further, he then tried reaching his hand out to Lion.

"Wait, please don't leave me!" Hematite called out to him.

As Hematite crawled towards Lion, Seth and Pearl had managed to catch up to Hematite and reach him, having been the first ones to do so.

"Please come back to me, Ro-" Hematite started to say.

Before Hematite could finish, Lion let out a huge roar, which created a portal that swallowed up Hematite, Seth, Pearl, and himself, causing all of them disappear into it. When Sugilite, Amethyst, and Lapis had finally caught up, they were surprised to find that they were all gone. It was as if Hematite, Seth, Pearl, and Lion had just disappeared into thin air.

"Where'd they go?" asked Sugilite, now confused. "They're gone."

* * *

All they could remember was that everything had gone black when they were swallowed up by Lion's portal. Seth regained consciousness and found himself in a very strange place. All around him, he could see a beautiful pink landscape filled with grassy plains, and in the middle of it he saw a hill with a tree on it, surrounded by various objects.

"Wait, I know this place." said Seth. "But how did we get here?"

Seth looked around and found that Pearl was still unconscious on the ground nearby, but a short distance away, he could see Hematite, who was awake, and was crying. However, it seemed as though he were crying tears of joy. Seth took a closer look and noticed that there was someone next to Hematite, comforting him and embracing him.

"It's okay Hematite." said the mysterious person. "I'm here. I've always been here."

"I've missed you so much." said Hematite.

"I know you have." said the mystery person. "But you have to learn to let go and move on. I can't exist in this world at the same time as them."

"But I don't want to be alone again." said Hematite.

"You were never alone." said the mystery person. "Parts of me still live on in this world. I never truly disappeared. If only you can see that, you'll realize that I'll always be there with you."

"I'm glad I got to see you at least one more time." said Hematite, hugging the mystery person.

"Now, about them..." said the mystery person, pointing towards Seth. "You understand that they can't stay like this, don't you? You have to give them their Gems back, otherwise they can't move on either."

"Who are you?" asked Seth.

"Please, come closer." said the mystery person, smiling. "I've been dying to meet you two."

Seth approached the mystery person, a shocked expression appeared on his face.

"Wait a minute, you're...!" said Seth.

Pearl awoke to a flash of light off in the distance. She looked around at her surroundings, but she didn't recognize where she was.

"What is this place?" asked Pearl.

She looked towards where the flash of light had come from and saw that Hematite had just defused, after Seth had rejoined with him, and now Steven and Jet were separated and back to normal. Pearl ran over to them to see what was going on, and upon reaching them, she noticed that someone else was there with them, and standing right next to this person was Lion.

"There, that should do it." said the mystery person, with one hand over Steven's gem, and the other hand over Jet's gem. "You're Gems should be back to normal now."

"Who are you?" asked Pearl.

"Who else could I be?" said the mastery person, smiling. The mystery person turn around to face Pearl, revealing that it was none other than Rose Quartz.

"It can't be..." said Pearl in complete shock. "Rose..."

Suddenly overcome with a mix of strong emotions, without thinking, Pearl could feel herself running straight towards Rose, with her arms wide open and ready to embrace her. As she reached Rose and tried to hug her, she found that she had passed right through Rose, and fallen face first onto the ground.

"Are you real?" asked Pearl, now crying and getting up off the ground. "How are you here?"

"This area is my own personal domain." said Rose. "I guess you could say this place represents the inside of my gem. I'm only able to appear to you in this form because my two halves are in close proximity to each other." Rose turned towards Steven and Lion. "The further away they are, the less solid this form becomes."

"What do you mean your two halves?" asked Pearl.

"As you may already know, half of me became half of Steven." said Rose. "But where did the other half go? It's right here." Rose gestured to Lion. "Lion is what became of my leftover reduced half. He is now the gatekeeper of this place, and is a guardian that I left behind for Steven."

"Wait a minute, if we're here, then how is it that we can breath?" asked Steven. "All the other times I tried coming here, I had to hold my breath."

"That is because Lion has now fully accepted you and allowed you to enter into my domain." said Rose. "Because I have allowed him to give you full permission to enter here, this dimension won't try to repulse you and force you to leave."

"If that's the case, then why haven't you appeared to us before?" asked Pearl. "Why haven't you tried to communicate with us or at least give us some sign that you were still here Rose?"

"It's not that simple." said Rose. "This projection of me that you see before you, created by the proximity of my two halves, is incapable of leaving this place. This form is more like a ghost or echo of my former self, intangible and unchangeable. I cannot exist anywhere outside of this space."

"This isn't fair." said Pearl, crying and sulking. "Why does it have to be this way?"

"Why do you cry Pearl?" asked the projection of Rose. "You shouldn't feel sad. Even though I'm gone, I have always been here with you, watching over all of you, and loving all of you. I know about everything that has happened since I lost my physical form. I can still see everything that goes on through my two halves, Steven and Lion."

"You can?" said Pearl.

"I have many things to tell all of you." said Rose. "First, you Pearl."

"Me?" said Pearl.

"Pearl, I know you've been through a lot and suffered much, but please, don't keep hurting yourself the way you've been." said Rose. "It hurts me more than you know to see you do this to yourself. I know that you miss me dearly, but you must move on too."

"I don't know if I can." said Pearl.

The projection of Rose reached out a hand and tried to touch Pearl's cheek, as if to wipe away her tears. Even though she couldn't touch her, the very action itself seemed to calm Pearl.

"Just as I continue to exist through Steven and Lion, through them, I can continue to love and watch over all of you." said Rose. "You're never alone. With my two halves, I can always be there with you. With them, you can create new memories and fill that emptiness in your heart as you continue to live on, as if I were still there with you. So please, find a new path for yourself, and follow it. Don't stay caught in my shadow anymore."

Pearl seemed to feel somewhat better now, and with this new knowledge, she started to feel some of the burden lift from her. Rose then turned towards Steven and Jet.

"There are a few things I must tell both of you as well." said Rose, first turning to Steven.

"I can't believe how much you've grown and matured Steven." said Rose. "You make me so proud."

"I wish I could hug you right now." said Steven, blushing. "There's so much I want to tell you."

"Steven, in the future you must remember that fusion is not something to be taken lightly and played around with." said Rose. "If you're not careful, it could have very serious consequences. Also, try to understand, Hematite didn't mean any harm. He's just a bit immature and didn't know how to handle his grief very well, which is why he vented it in such an explosive way."

"So he was basically just acting like a really big kid?" said Steven.

"Your gems are very important." said Rose, pointing to both Steven and Jet's gems and addressing both of them. "You must be very careful and make sure that nothing happens to them or to yourselves. You two can't poof like other Gems can when they're hurt. Instead, you would die, so please don't be careless."

"So you're Onyx's child?" said Rose, turning to address Jet. "You've grown up too. You probably don't remember me, but I once met you when you were just a baby. As I held you, I could tell right away that Onyx lived on inside of you. You're so much like her, both in appearance and personality. You and Steven will likely one day become just like us and take on our roles. Steven may not be as far along as you are now, so until then, please make sure to keep him safe and out of trouble."

"I will." said Jet. "After all, the two of us share a bond, just like you and Onyx did."

Rose then turned towards Lion and gave him a pat on the head.

"Lion, please don't give Pearl such a hard time." said Rose. "She's been through a lot. If only you'd just open up to her, you'll see that she's not that bad."

Lion then gave off a sad moan, trying to snuggle up to Rose.

"You must go now." said Rose. "Everyone is waiting for you, and they must be very worried."

"Wait, there's so much I want to ask you." said Steven.

"You can always do that another time." said Rose. "If you ever want to talk, just ask Lion and he can take you here. If you want, you can even bring Pearl along too. This dimension now fully accepts you."

"Okay then, I'll visit you whenever I can." sad Steven. "Bye mom."

"Bye Steven." said Rose. "I love you."

"I love you too." said Steven.

The group of Steven, Jet, Pearl, and Lion then started to leave through a portal that Lion proceeded to open up.

* * *

Lapis came down from the air, after having flown around Beach City with her wings of water. She had been searching from the air for any signs of Hematite, Seth, and Pearl, but so far she has had no luck.

"I can't find them anywhere." Lapis said to Garnet and Amethyst, who had by now defused.

"Where could they have gone?" asked Garnet. "They can't just disappear like that."

Suddenly, a portal opened up on the beach and Steven, Jet, Pearl, and Lion emerged from it. Upon seeing them, Garnet, Amethyst, and Lapis immediately rushed over to them. They noticed that Steven, Jet, and Pearl all had tears streaming down their faces.

"What on Earth happened to you guys?" asked Garnet.

"We got to meet someone we haven't seen in a long time." said Pearl.

Pearl smiled and patted Lion on the head, who purred affectionately.

"Steven, let's not do that again." said Jet.

"Yeah." said Steven. "From now on we won't form Hematite unless it's absolutely necessary and we have no other choice."

"Next time you need to fuse, just fuse with Connie instead." said Jet.

The two of them then walked back to the house with everyone else to explain what had happened.

* * *

It was now later in the day, and the battle had long since ended. Steven walked outside and found Pearl sitting alone near the shore of the beach, looking out onto the ocean.

"How do you feel now Pearl?" asked Steven, approaching and sitting down next to her. "Are you better now?"

"Yes, I'm much better Steven." said Pearl.

"You know, I think I understand now why Hematite acted the way he did." said Steven. "In a way Hematite is a lot like how you used to be Pearl. He missed Rose too, and with her gone, he just didn't know how to handle all of that sadness he was left with, and it turned him into an emotional wreck."

"Do I really seem like that to all of you?" asked Pearl.

"Well... maybe a little." said Steven.

"To tell you the truth, after what happened today, I don't really feel like that anymore." said Pearl.

Pearl seemed to be almost glowing with a radiance Steven had never seen before. There wasn't a hint of sadness on her face like there always would be whenever they would talk about Rose in the past.

"Seeing Rose again, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest." said Pearl. "I feel so much better now. All the sadness, all the grief and pain, it feels like its all gone somehow. Meeting Rose again inside Lion's dimension has given me something I never thought I'd have."

"What was it?" asked Steven.

"Closure." said Pearl. "Getting to meet Rose just one more time, I think now I can finally accept that she's gone and move on with my life. Knowing that she's always been there watching us, and always will be, it doesn't hurt me anymore that she's gone, because she never truly was to begin with."

"I'm glad you could finally let go of all those bottled up emotions." said Steven. "Now, you're like a brand new Pearl. We won't let the past hold us down anymore. From now on, we'll only look towards the future."

"So, I guess the whole fusion thing didn't really work out?" asked Pearl.

"No, not really." said Steven. "I don't think me and Jet will be forming Hematite again, at least not anytime soon."

"If you still want to learn fusion, why don't we try fusing with each other?" suggested Pearl. "If you want, I could teach you how to fuse with me and create Rainbow Quartz, just like how I used to with Rose."

"Really!?" said Steven, excited and his pupils turning into star shapes. "I'd love too. We'll form a giant woman together."

"We will Steven." said Pearl, smiling and wrapping an arm around Steven. "We will."

The two of them sat there for a while and continued to watch the sunset.

* * *

Elsewhere on the beach, Lapis was by herself, happily laying down in the sand with her feet in the water, and feeling completely relaxed. Then, someone nearby approached her. It was Jet, who seemed pretty apprehensive about coming closer.

"Hi there Lapis." said Jet, shyly.

"Hello Jet." said Lapis, smiling. "This Earth weather sure is wonderful, isn't it?"

"There's something I wanted to ask you." said Jet, avoiding looking directly at her.

"What is it?" asked Lapis.

"I was wondering if..." said Jet.

Finally, he mustered up the courage to ask her.

"Lapis, I was wondering if you can help teach me how to perform fusion."

"You want me to teach you fusion?" said Lapis, surprised by the request.

"Yes." said Jet. "Since my fusion with Steven isn't very stable, I don't have anyone else I could learn fusion with. Fusion works best when you have a partner you're compatible with. Steven and Pearl are already training together, and Garnet is already a fusion herself. I thought you might be able to help me, since you kind of already know a little bit about fusion."

"I suppose I could." said Lapis, blushing due to the unexpected nature of the request."

"Really?" said Jet, surprised that she had actually agreed. "Thank you Lapis."

"I'm happy to help." said Lapis.

Jet then sat down next to Lapis and started to converse with her.

"So Lapis, what can you tell me about yourself?" asked Jet. "If we're going to try fusing, it would help if we understood each other a little better."

"Okay then, I'll start by telling you a story about myself." said Lapis, now feeling more comfortable. "Back on Homeworld, I..."

* * *

Over the next few days, Steven and Pearl started to bond even more with each other, as they continued training themselves to be able fuse into Rainbow Quartz. Now, the two of them stood together on the beach, and as they started to dance and come closer to each other, they sung a song. When they were finished singing, they held their hands together and in a twirling motion they came together and fused, forming into Rainbow Quartz.

"We did it!" exclaimed Rainbow Quartz. "We formed Rainbow Quartz!"

"Good job Steven." said Garnet, clapping along with Amethyst, Lapis, and Jet, who were also watching.

"We're finally a giant woman now." said Rainbow Quartz.

Their spirits had been very high since they had met Rose Quartz the other day, and they planned to eventually visit her again inside of Lion's dimension to speak with her once more. Lion was now starting to grow very fond of Pearl, and in turn, Pearl was now a lot nicer and more tolerant towards Lion. He even joined her now on her Gem missions as battle companion that would fight alongside her.

That night, Steven had fallen asleep next to Lion while he was reading a book with Pearl, and Pearl too fell eventually fell asleep in the same spot. The three of them slept there peacefully together; a trio who all carried within them the memory of Rose Quartz.

* * *

 **Story Update: Hey everyone, I know it's been a long time since I last updated this story, but I feel as if I should mention to you all that I probably won't ever finish it. I have lost all motivation to continue writing it, especially with all the new events that have been taking place in the Steven Universe show.**

 **I originally started writing this story back in 2015 when Steven Universe had been on that massive hiatus because I and a lot of other people really wanted some plot advancement in the show and we weren't getting any, so I decided to write my own which would fit within the established canon in order to satisfy people until the show came back from hiatus.**

 **Now though so much has happened since then in the show, and the more that plot advances in the show, the more this story starts to contradict and conflict with the established canon of the show, and to continue on with my original plot idea for this story seems kind of pointless now. If I were to continue writing this story, I would have to change and rewrite a lot of things in it so that it would still fit within the show's continuity.**

 **There is still a small possibility that I may revisit this story in the future, perhaps after Steven Universe has concluded as a series, but don't hold your breath. I may seem like this story barely even got started and that I had such grand ideas for it, but as of now I consider this story to be effectively complete. Having it end with the conclusion of this particular character arc between Steven and Jet seems like a fitting place to stop at.**


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